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Aslef Rail Strikes To Begin This Week

By Nithya Bose in Business News, posted May 8, 2024

England train passengers are bracing for chaos this week as Aslef train drivers announce fresh strikes despite efforts to resume talks.

The strikes are scheduled until Thursday, May 9.

It will involve 24-hour work stoppages by drivers at each of England’s national train operators.

A nationwide overtime ban will occur from Monday, May 13, to Saturday, May 18.

The disruption will impact most operators, resulting in a shutdown of services on strike days and reduced schedules due to the overtime ban.

This will particularly affect services in and out of London, including operators like c2c, Greater Anglia, Great Northern, Thameslink, Southeastern, Southern/Gatwick Express, and South Western Railway.

The action will escalate with further strikes at Avanti West Coast, Chiltern Railways, CrossCountry, East Midlands Railway, Great Western Railway, and West Midlands Trains on Wednesday, followed by LNER, Northern, and TransPennine Express on Thursday.

The union remains hopeful for a resolution

The Aslef union said it would continue the strike to secure a better pay offer, as some members have not received a pay rise in five years.

The last negotiation talks collapsed a year ago.

Despite rejecting a previous two-year deal proposing a four percent annual pay increase, the union remains hopeful for a resolution.

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An RDG spokesperson said it had “written to the Aslef leadership to try and find areas of common ground that will allow us to move to formal negotiations”.

The Aslef general secretary, Mick Whelan, told members he would “explore this avenue in an effort to resolve this dispute”.

In early 2023, the drivers' union turned down a two-year agreement that proposed an annual pay increase of 4 percent, conditional on alterations to working conditions.

The percentage increase was lower than what had been offered to other industry sectors.

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